Open-end ratchet wrench



1955 T. o. BERGLAND OPEN-END RATCHET WRENCH Filed Jan. 25, 1954 FIG INVENTOR. Thomas O. Berglund i zz/i/ United States Patent Ofiice 2,721,493 Patented Oct. 25, 1955 OPEN-END RATCHET WRENCH Thomas 0. Bergland, Spokane, Wash.

Application January 25, 1954, Serial No. 405,718

2 Claims. (Cl. 81-179) This invention relates to tools and more particularly to an open-end wrench having means providing a ratchetlike function therefor.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of an open-end Wrench having a movable dog carried in a socket having a duo-plane pressure wall and cooperating with one jaw of the wrench and adapted to grip an object disposed in the mouth of the jaw when the wrench is rotated in one direction and release the object when the wrench is rotated in the opposed direction.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed. It will be understood, however, that the drawings and description are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the invention except insofar as it is limited by the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the head portion of an open-end wrench embodying my invention as applied to a nut;

Figure 2 is a view similar to that of Figure 1 with a portion of one jaw shown in cross section for convenience of illustration; and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross section taken at line 33 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, I have shown a conventional open-end wrench, indicated in general by the numeral 10, and which has a conventional head 11 and handle or lever 12. The head is provided with a pair of spaced coextensive rigid jaws 13 and 14 which define a nut-receiving mouth 15 having an axis about which the head 11 is rotated by means of the handle 12 when applying or removing a nut or bolt.

The jaw 13 is provided with a socket 16 which is tangentially arranged with respect to the axis of the mouth 15. The socket is provided with an outer wall 17 having a forward section 18 at a different angle than its intermediate section 19 and has an inwardly projecting wall section 20. The inwardly projecting section 20 is defined at its outer marginal edge by means of a projecting shoulder 21 and at its rear edge by a slot 22 adapted to receive and secure a leaf spring 23 within the socket 16.

A gripping dog 25 is disposed within the socket 16 and is here shown to be triangular in shape and as having a gripping face 26 which may be smooth or serrated depending upon the work or object to be rotated by the wrench and an angularly disposed pressure face 27 adapted to bear against the central section 19 of wall 17 in face to face relation when the gripping face 26 is parallel to the gripping face 14' of jaw 14. It will thus be seen that the outer section 18 of wall 17 is disposed at an angle which is more acute relative to the gripping face 26 of the dog 25 when in the normal gripping position as shown in Figure l. The dog 25 is provided with a back face 28 against which the spring 23 bears to bias the dog toward its gripping position. The juncture of the pressure wall 27 and the back wall 28 forms an acute angle corner 29 which is adapted to bear against the shoulder 21 on the wall 17 to prevent movement of the dog 25 into the slot by cam action of the cooperating faces 27 and 19 when pressure is applied to the handle 12 in a direction indicated by the arrow 12 at which time pressure is applied to the dog 25 by nut 30 (see Figure 1) in a direction indicated by the arrow 30', thus pressing the pressure face 27 tightly against the central section 19 of Wall 17 whereby the nut or other object disposed within the mouth may be rotated by movement of the head 11 about the axis of the mouth 15.

When the wrench is removed from the nut 30 spring 23 tends to eject the dog 25 from the socket 16 and to preclude this accidental displacement of the dog, I have provided slots communicating with the socket 16 and forming stops 31. A pin 32 extends through an aperture 33 formed in the dog 25 and cooperates with the stops 31 by forming projections on the dog 25 adapted to contact the stops to limit the movement of the dog 25 outwardly of the socket.

After the rotation of the wrench 10 reaches its limit in the direction indicated by the arrow 12 pressure is applied to the handle 12 in the opposed direction indicated by the arrow 12" of Figure 2 and the wrench head 11 slightly rocks counter-clockwise around the nut 30 and the dog 25, thus shifting the angular section 18 of the wall 17 into face-to-face engagement with the pressure face 27 of the dog 25, and moving the shoulder 21 away from the corner 29 of the dog 25, thus permitting movement of the dog 25 into the socket 16, and thus permitting the wrench to ratchet around the nut 30 by permitting the dog 25 to ratchet over the ridges of the nut 30 and to be subsequently returned by the spring 23 to its gripping position against one of the flat faces of the nut.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In an open-end wrench having a head provided with a pair of co-extensive spaced rigid jaws defining a nutreceiving mouth and a means for rotating said head about the axis of said mouth; means providing a ratchet-like function for said wrench comprising a socket formed in one jaw of said head and tangentially disposed relative to the axis of said mouth; said socket having an outer wall consisting of an inner section, an outer section, and an intermediate section; said inner section projecting inwardly from said intermediate section and defining a transverse shoulder therebetween; said outer section being disposed at an obtuse angle relative to said intermediate section; an outwardly biased dog movable in said socket and having means for limiting its movement outwardly thereof; and said dog having a pressure face angularly disposed relative to its gripping face and engageable with said wall of said socket and having an inner end portion adapted to catch said shoulder when pressure is applied to said dog by rotating said head in one direction about a nut-like object, rotation of said head in an opposite direction serving to tilt said dog away from said shoulder and permit movement thereof into said socket.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein the dog is outwardly biased by means of an expansion spring disposed within said socket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,308,440 Morrison July 1, 1919 1,444,034 Palm Feb. 6, 1923 2,592,781 Yarner Apr. 15, 1952 2,646,711 Yarner July 28, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 220,348 Germany Mar. 23, 1910 591,574 France Apr. 14, 1925 

